Nouri al-Maliki

He got married to Faleeha Khalil, however the exact year or date of their marriage is unknown. The couple has a son, Ahmed and four daughters.

Nouri Kamal Mohammed Hasan al-Maliki was born on 20 June 1950 in Hindiya, Iraq to Kamil Mohammed Hasan al-Maliki and his wife. Very little information is available regarding his family but his grandfather Mohammed Hassan Abul Mahasin was a rebel who fought against the British occupation of Iraq. His family belonged to the Al-Ali tribe.

He was educated in his home town of Hindiya but the name of the school that he attended is unknown. Subsequently he attended the Usal al-Din College located in Baghdad and graduated in 1973. He attained his post graduate degree in Arabic literature from Baghdad University around twenty years later.

During his time at the university he became a member of the Islamic Dawa Party. After completing his education he lived in the city of Al Hillah in central Iraq and worked in the education department.

Having already been a member of the Islamic Dawa Party, that fought for the Shias in the country, from his university days, he quickly became one of the important members of the party. In the 1970s, the Islamic Dawa Party had a long running conflict with the Baath Party led by Saddam Hussein.

He fled from Iraq on 16 July 1979 after it was discovered that he was a key member of the Islamic Dawa Party, which had been outlawed. He initially went to Syria and two years later moved to Tehran, Iran, which became his base for the next eight years. Subsequently he moved to Damascus. He carried on the work of the Islamic Dawa Party during his stay in Syria and found allies in Hezbollah and Iran in his quest to topple Saddam Hussein.

He went back to Iraq after Saddam Hussein was thrown out of the country in 2003. The Supreme National Debaathification Commission of the Iraqi Interim Government made him a deputy leader of the commission. In January of 2005 he became a member of the transitional national assembly after an election and in October of the same year he helped in the drafting of the new Iraqi constitution.

He emerged as one of the front runners for the post of Prime Minister in 2006 and following the backing of the United States ambassador, the commander of Quds Force and also a deal between the leaders of the Shias and Kurdish people, he was elected as the Prime Minister of Iraq.

During his first term as the Prime Minister of Iraq, he brought in processes to unify the different factions in Iraqi politics and was also the one who signed Saddam Hussein’s death warrant. He was also involved in quelling a rebellion that had erupted in Basra and sent in the Iraqi army to take care of the situation. However, his most significant work during that period was that of reaching an agreement with the US about their forces’ pull-out from Iraq by 2009.

His most important work as the Prime Minister of Iraq after taking over a country in turmoil was to broker peace between different warring political and ethnic factions in the country. Although it was not long lasting, it remains one of his most important legacies.